Volunteers are the heart and soul of the ‘Whale Watching Spoken Here' program sponsored by the Oregon State Parks. This program utilizes trained volunteers to staff observation points along the Oregon Coast during the peak periods of gray whale migration along the coast. Volunteers staff 26 different observation points between the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center in Illawaco, Washington down to the 9th Street Beach in Crescent City, California during this annual migration.
Signing Up for Whale Watcher Training
Interested volunteer whale watchers sign up for a 2-day training workshop. Oregon State Parks conducts three different sessions to provide volunteers with information about the whale’s natural history and life cycle. A December training is held at the Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport, Oregon and the January session is held at the Oregon Institute of Marine Biology in Charleston, Oregon. In February, a workshop is held at the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center in Illawaco, Washington. These three different locations are designed to meet the needs of the volunteers. There is a minimal cost for the training, and returning volunteers may audit a workshop for free. Volunteers may also obtain a free camping spot at one of the nearby state parks during the training and volunteering times.
Training Agenda
The Oregon State Park staff from the Depoe Bay Whale Watching Center organizes and hosts the training workshops. Starting with registration, participants pick up their information packets and then get set for a day of learning about gray whales. After an introduction and welcoming by the Center’s staff, they generally review the previous year’s counts and explain how the whale counts and people counts are done.
After this introduction, marine biologist hosts present information about the life cycle and history of the gray whale. They cover topics such as identification, migration, feeding habits, breeding and calving locations, and population status. The biologists also provide information about other species that might be viewed like seals and sea lions, other whales or orcas.
The second day of training covers signing up for the Whale Watch Weeks, interpretive techniques or other coastal topics. Once a volunteer has taken the training they don’t need to do so again, but are encouraged to attend as a refresher.
Trained Whale Watchers
Volunteers sign up for observation sites based upon the watcher’s availability and preferred location. The park staff coordinates the sign ups and will assign several volunteers to a location. If observation points are adequately staffed, the park will attempt to place the volunteer based upon their second choice.
Winter Whale Watching Week
This period is the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day. Winter Whale Watch Week corresponds with the peak of the gray whales migrating south to their breeding and calving grounds along the Baja Peninsula. It is also a period of high visitor use along the coast. Although the volunteer whale watchers maintain a count of migrating whales, they also help visitors spot gray whales and provide information learned during the training session.
Spring Whale Watching Week
In the spring, migrating gray whales return to their feeding grounds in the Chukchi and Bering Seas. Volunteers again staff the 26 different viewpoints. This peak of the northbound migration also coincides with Spring Break, another high visitor use period.
On-Site Activities
Whale Watching Spoken Here volunteers staff their observation points from 10:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. During this time they keep record of the number of migrating whales observed, along with information about other species of wildlife seen from the viewpoint. An information sign and educational box are provided for each location and these provide interpretive materials for the volunteers to use. Of particular interest to kids are the small gray whale toys. Volunteers bring their own binoculars and spotting scopes to help the visitors observe whales. Rousing shouts of "Thar She Blows!" gets visitors excited about seeing whales.
Since the annual gray whale migration along the eastern edge of the Pacific Ocean is relatively close to shore, this allows visitors to view whales from viewpoints and headlands along the coast. The Oregon State Park has developed the ‘Whale Watching Spoken Here’ program for this land-based activity. The help and dedication of the whale watch volunteers makes this program a great success.
Damian Fagan - I am a freelance writer and photographer living in the Pacific Northwest, although I lived in Utah for over 20 years. I've written ...
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